A good weekend even if it didn’t go exactly the way I expected. I had wanted Mark Burnette to come out and cut the trees by the orchard and the ones by the satellite dish, and then to clean the gutters, but he was a no show, hanging me up by the gate for a half hour. For some reason he emailed Lou to tell him he wasn’t coming and Lou didn’t get the message for several hours. I stayed calm and decided to cut the trees myself and though I twisted my knee a bit, I got all the trees cut and cleaned the back gutter. I called Mike and he agreed to come over on Sunday to do the front gutter. I was pretty happy with myself being able to do so much and I also saved at least 100 dollars.
On Sunday morning I finished up the last of my papers and then practiced and rode the bike. Mike came a little after twelve and he cleaned out the front gutter in about 20 minutes. I then showed him the will I had set up for him and explained what he needed to do. I also advised him to get a living will and he said he would.
I drove off to play golf (shooting a 48 on the front even though I three putted 3 holes), then I went to Applebee’s and watched Tiger Woods finally win again by a stroke over Zach Johnson. I felt really glad for him. Following that Rob and I took a good walk on the trail .
I am still having stomach problems but my stomach is better today. I hope it settles down soon.

I finally got the approval letter from Stellar One yesterday. It was only about 10 days late (Jessica Miller had told me the week before that the easement had been approved). I was getting pretty upset but there wasn’t much I could do except call Sanda Chaffin a few times and hope something would happen. I am leaving for my trip on Wednesday so there is no chance I will be able to meet with the CPA until after I return around the 24th. That means that I will not have the tax credits for this March. It shouldn’t make that much of a difference but I would have liked the chance to use the credits in March.
I charged the batteries all day and I want them pretty full before I leave so they won’t run down in case we get some cloudy weather. I also ran the farm tractor for an hour, getting the leaves off the road and evening out all the ruts from the big rain last week. I also dug out the big culvert which was covered with leaves but didn’t wash across the road. I also trimmed around the house with the shears, and got in a nice hike up to the orchard.
I went to see Dr. McCoy on Wednesday and he, thankfully, didn’t think I needed the bone marrow biopsy, at least right now. He said that if my white cells and platelets were down, he would have sent me for one, but since it is only my red cells, he wanted to wait. He did want me to go on the Prilosec since the endoscopy did show some irritation and there might be some microscopic bleeding which could explain my condition. He also put me on an iron supplement (hemaplex) and told me he wanted to check my blood in six weeks so I am free from any tests for six weeks. Rob wasn’t sure of McCoy’s diagnosis but he thought it wouldn’t hurt to wait the six weeks. He thinks I have some sort of inflammation that may be causing the bone marrow to not make red blood cells.
I picked up my citrus last night and I have eaten about 8 oranges in two days. I hope the acid doesn’t hurt my stomach.
I saw Jim Gray for the first time in a while and we had a good chat. I think he is going to quit Kronos in January and start his own business. I think he will do well.
I have two finals to give on Tuesday and then a difficult semester will be done. I have really had to fight the tiredness all semester.
My proposal on Burroughs and Muir was accepted at the CEA conference in March in Richmond, so now I will have to write it. I also have to write the fishing for people with disabilities article but Bill Rudge is not being helpful. I will have to press him on Monday.

A good weekend even if it didn’t go exactly the way I expected. I had wanted Mark Burnette to come out and cut the trees by the orchard and the ones by the satellite dish, and then to clean the gutters, but he was a no show, hanging me up by the gate for a half hour. For some reason he emailed Lou to tell him he wasn’t coming and Lou didn’t get the message for several hours. I stayed calm and decided to cut the trees myself and though I twisted my knee a bit, I got all the trees cut and cleaned the back gutter. I called Mike and he agreed to come over on Sunday to do the front gutter. I was pretty happy with myself being able to do so much and I also saved at least 100 dollars.
On Sunday morning I finished up the last of my papers and then practiced and rode the bike. Mike came a little after twelve and he cleaned out the front gutter in about 20 minutes. I then showed him the will I had set up for him and explained what he needed to do. I also advised him to get a living will and he said he would.
I drove off to play golf (shooting a 48 on the front even though I three putted 3 holes), then I went to Applebee’s and watched Tiger Woods finally win again by a stroke over Zach Johnson. I felt really glad for him. Following that Rob and I took a good walk on the trail .
I am still having stomach problems but my stomach is better today. I hope it settles down soon.

I am having some stomach problems right now and they have caused me some rather extreme bathroom problems. I am supposed to go see Jeff and Rachel tonight but I am not sure that will be a good idea.
I heard from Stellar One that they have approved the easement so things should be finished within two weeks, I believe.
I played golf and shot a very nice 46 on the front nine after hitting very poorly on the first three holes (though I scored okay).
My classes are going well and I have ten papers to grade this weekend and that will be the major crunch, not too bad to be sure.
I have been hiking almost every day and that is a great comfort. I don’t know how much time I have left in the hollow so I am doing well to enjoy each hike.
The house is in very good shape, and Mark Burnette is coming tomorrow to clean the gutters and cut some of the smaller trees I can’t reach. It shouldn’t be too hard.
It is unclear what Rob is going to do with Rachel. She is not doing her work in High School and she may not be ready for JMU.
I am very tired but Rob attributes that to my withdrawal from the prednisone. I should recover within two weeks since I will be off the drug on Sunday. I want to have my energy back for the Charleston trip.

I am back home and my trip went very well. I was a little frazzled when I got to Gyorgyi’s mother’s house and I thought I left the WTC memorial tickets and then my meds but I finally got in to the city and things went quite well after that.
On Sunday I got to see Rose and she didn’t recognize me. However I took Tina to a great sushi restaurant and that was a treat. She is a good woman to chat with.
On Monday I went back to the city and walked around until I met Gyorgyi at the memorial. I was moved by it but Gyorgyi thought it was too jingoistic. After that we walked down to Occupy Wall Street and it was a bit disappointing. There were more police and security than protesters and many of the people looked simply homeless. Then off to Herb’s reading and book signing and then dinner at a Turkish restaurant. I was glad to see Judith Gleason but she didn’t look well.
On Tuesday, it was time for a double walk through Central Park, a movie (The Descendants), and then dinner with Gabe and Francesca. Julian was almost walking and was fun to feed and play with.
On Wednesday, I walked and then went off to Gyorgyi’s mom’s house. Mrs. Voros was rather frail but it was good to see her. Then I followed G over to Andrew’s house and had a lot of fun playing with Laura, watching Howl’s Moving Castle and having an intense but reasonable discussion about politics till 12:30 AM.
On Thursday morning I drove to Patty’s house to have Thanksgiving with her and my Aunt Marie. Then we went to Longwood Gardens and that was spectacular. I chatted with Patty quite a bit and she seems like a very decent and intelligent person. I am glad I could accommodate Marie.
On Friday I drove to Kelly’s and had a lot of fun playing with Lucia (hide and seek 50 times at least). We then went out to lunch and more playing with Lucia and then over to K’s Mom. It was fun to see Liz and Theo and I spent a lot of time playing restaurant with Lucia. She is a wonderful little girl. After my visit I drove to Winchester for the evening.
On Saturday, I drove to JMU and rode my bike. I got home in time to play golf and then take a long walk with Rob. It seems he has reached a settlement with Fay and I hope it works. He seemed very happy.
I woke this morning really tired and after a hike and cutting the grass, I was done for. I napped and then I did some weights and yoga and had to nap again. I had to really push to go play golf but I played very well, shooting a 46 on the back nine.

Another busy week with the highlights—or the lowlights—being my endoscopy and colonoscopy on Wednesday. Both came out negative as expected, so now I have to get the bone marrow biopsy late in December. I will be put under for that so I don’t think it will be that bad.
I did not like the drug they used to anesthetize me. I made me groggy after the procedures and I could heard them talking while they were doing it. The good part was that the procedures came off on time and I didn’t have to wait for six hours.
On Thursday afternoon I got a message from Jessica Miller and she told me that the bank wasn’t going to sign off on my easement unless I got another appraisal (the sixth!). I tried to explain to her that the property was still worth at least 200K but she wasn’t buying and I told her I would close my accounts and pay off the loan from my 403B account (which I really couldn’t do since I only had 85K in it, with the loan balance being 106). I was steamed.
I went to the Tech game with Rob and I was thinking about the easement much of the time so the excitement of the game was diminished for me. Still, Tech won in a game that ended up very close and we had a good chat.
On Friday morning I woke early and drove to my office to get the Lucas appraisal and it was as I remembered: the property was worth 311K and the loss would be 112K so my 120 equity line was nowhere near the 80% figure. I drove to the bank and talked briefly with Jessica, who said she didn’t want to be in the middle so I got her to call Sandra Chafin and after I showed her the Lucas appraisal she seemed satisfied and I could relax. They should sign off on the easement within 10 days and when I spoke to Josh at VOF he thought that would be fine. Now I can go up to NY relatively relaxed and enjoy my visits to Rose and Marie, Herb and Susan, Gabe, Francesca and Julian, and Kelly, Alfredo and Lucia. I did play golf this afternoon and shot a 46 on the back nine and if my putting had been better I would have shot a 43. That was my second straight 46 on the back so I guess my swing is better.
I am not on the graduate subcommittee and I am kind of glad about that. I am not sure how my health will be and I don’t think I need any more stuff to do.
The house is in very good shape and most of my stuff is packed so I should be able to get off quickly in the morning.

I play catch up again as my last entry is almost a week ago. I remain more tired than usual but I am still very busy.
This morning I changed the oil in the generator so that should be good until spring. The greenhouse is doing well, with the peas flowering and the new strawberry transplants doing well. I have eaten a little lettuce already. I emptied the big tank in the orchard and took out the plug so it doesn’t freeze.
My teaching is going well and I have finished one evaluation and will do two more next week.
I have volunteered to be on the graduate subcommittee and I hope that won’t be too stressful. I will be teaching a graduate course in the fall for the first time in many, many years.
I found out today that if I sell my tax credits I should get around 32K. I am going to wait until I find out what is wrong with my blood and then I may have to since I would lose them if something happens to me.
I went down to Charlotte and Columbia last week and had a great time, visiting the Congaree National Park, riding my bike along the river in Columbia, playing golf, walking around Charlotte and the Vista section of Columbia, eating at Capitol Grill and at Motor Supply Company bistro. It was a needed break from all the medical stuff.
I played golf with Craig today at the River Course and we had a lot of fun. Our match ended in a tie and Craig won the playoff hole. I always enjoy playing with him and today was even better.

My easement was approved on Friday and I got the news on Monday—which was also my birthday—and I was quite delighted, but then Rob told me he wanted me to get the endoscopy and the colonoscopy immediately because the blood tests showed further blood loss. That kind of ruined the rest of my birthday. Tracy sent me a birthday greeting so that cheered me up a bit.
On Sunday I had a birthday dinner with Jeff, Rachel and Benjamin and that was a lot of fun, eating Indian food and watching the Eagles trounce the Cowboys.
On Tuesday I felt better and Rob took me out to dinner and then we went for a walk. He thinks the procedures set for the 16th are going to be negative because I don’t have an iron deficiency. He thinks it my inability to make blood and that could be for any number of reasons. He is doing quite well with Rachel and he is seeing Noah a little.
I will be heading off for a three or four day trip to Charlotte and Columbia this afternoon. I need to just get away from all the medical stuff.
I finished treating the back porch with Thompson’s yesterday and it should hold up for a couple of years. I replanted some strawberries and cleaned up the greenhouse a little. I should have lettuce next week and peas in a couple of weeks.